


friends, even at their lowest

by creamiiteaa_xx



Series: if you get lost, you can always be found (just know you're not alone) [3]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Abused Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Alternate Universe - College/University, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Cookies, Food, For now ;), Gen, Happy Ending, Hot Chocolate, Hurt Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Hurt/Comfort, Morality | Patton Sanders is a Good Friend, Morality | Patton Sanders is a Sweetheart, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Swearing, Trans Male Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, all my tags disappered, all ships in this au are platonic, bc i have to go to bed in 30 minutes, be safe kiddos, did i project on virgil??, i'M SAD, in past tho, it's only implied if you squint, k bye, pShh- nO-, private part mention, then make patton the comfort i wish i had??, this is all platonic btw, unsafe binding, we have some trigger warnings, yeah - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:02:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27833485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/creamiiteaa_xx/pseuds/creamiiteaa_xx
Summary: Virgil can feel down. He can feel completely drained, tired, and overall, he can feel very shitty.His friends are always there for him, though. This time, a particular friend with hot chocolate and cookies comes to save the (his) day.
Relationships: Anxiety & Creativity & Dark Creativity & Deceit & Logic & Morality (Sanders Sides), Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders, Platonic TDRLAMPRE
Series: if you get lost, you can always be found (just know you're not alone) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2037232
Comments: 17
Kudos: 42





	friends, even at their lowest

**Author's Note:**

> hiya lovies! second Sanders Sides fic! whoop whoop! I'm going to try to post every day of December, and all of the fics will be in my new au/series! i haven't decided on a name for it yet, so i'm just calling it 'Found Family College AU' for now. if you have any ideas for a new, comment them! more info about the au will be in the series notes. now, on with the fic! i hope you enjoy it!
> 
> dec. 1 prompt: battery operated
> 
> trigger warnings: food, swearing, usage of the word 'boobs' referring to a trans men's chest, unsafe binding (i think that's it. if i missed anything, even something small, please tell me! stay safe!)

December 1 - Prompt: Battery operated

Virgil was completely and utterly drained.

People often joked about how introverts run on a social battery, and when the battery runs out, they need time alone. It was a running joke with his friends, something they spoke of a decent amount, with half of their dorm being introverts.

What people didn’t realize is that the social battery is a legitimate thing.

Well, for Virgil, at least. He didn’t know how other introverts worked. He definitely had a social battery though. And it was _very_ small.

When Virgil’s social battery got to zero, he was done. No human interaction. At all. Not even texting. Just completely hide out in his room until he recharges.

The only people that bypassed those rules were his roommates and older brother. His friends always knew how to talk to him when he was at his limit and Remy was just Remy. Virgil learned long ago that there was no stopping that social chihuahua (he refused to be called a butterfly).

His social battery ran 4 hours, at the most, though with new people it was probably an hour. Luckily, college didn’t require much interaction. Just get your work done and head home. There were some days, however, where there was a presentation or a group project, and those days _drained_ Virgil to the core. Having to be smart and work with other Homo sapiens??? Nope.

Well, unfortunately, today was one of those days. Hooray…

Virgil was currently curled up inside his room, headphones on full blast, scrolling through his Tumblr feed. He was reblogging stuff at random, as his blog was just aesthetic posts so he didn’t have to focus a lot. A huge heap of school work sat on his corner desk, blatantly being ignored by the angst-filled man. He knew that he had school work to catch up on; he just… didn’t feel motivated to do it. Procrastination at its finest.

Virgil shifted in bed and winced when his chest pulled and ached at the movement. He was aware he was wearing his binder longer than it was considered safe he just… didn’t wanna deal with dysphoria today. His day was sucky enough without the reminder of what lay on his chest. Not like he could do much about it yet, he _was_ a broke-ass college student.

A knock on his door startled him out of his head. He stared at the door for a second before shaking his head and answering,

“Yeah?”

“Hey kiddo,” A cheery voice called from the hall. _Patton_ “Could I come in for a bit?”

Virgil bit back a sigh. He knew staying holed up in his room wasn’t good and Patton was just trying to help him out (he was helping, a lot.), but that didn’t mean he always liked it.

“Yep,” Virgil grunted while he sat up and stumbled out of bed, making his way to his door. “One sec.”

Virgil opened his door to see Patton balancing a tray of cookies and mugs filled with hot chocolate in his hands, clearly struggling to keep them upright. Patton, bless him, still beamed at Virgil when the cookies threatened to fall to the floor.

“Hiya V! I could-- err! --use a little help here?” He laughed a bit, still struggling to keep the mugs from spilling over his shirt, and sent Virgil a quick panicked glance.

Virgil carefully grabbed two mugs from Patton’s hands and set them down on his nightstand. When he turned around Patton had the cookie tray back in his hands and was holding out a snowman-shaped one to Virgil.

“Cookie?” The shorter man offered, extending said cookie further.

Virgil hesitantly grabbed it and sat on the edge of his bed, nibbling at it softly. He felt the bed dip as Patton sat next to him, eating a Christmas tree cookie.

“So,” Patton began, and Virgil just curled into himself tighter. Patton’s voice softened at that. “What’s wrong, Virgil?”

Virgil just looked down, refusing to meet Patton’s gaze. Shame built up in Virgil’s chest, as did the need to shout out ‘Sorry!’ even though he did nothing to apologize for. _Old habits die hard, I guess._

“Virgil...”

Patton lifted his hand then paused, unsure what to do with it, until he settled to place it on Virgil’s shoulder. At feeling something _touching him, his chest, ew, please get away-_ Virgil jerked back, staring at Patton with wide, glossy eyes.

“Hey, hey, hey, it’s okay.” Patton held up his hands and scooted away a few inches, showing Virgil that he wasn’t going to touch him. “You don’t wanna be touched?”

Virgil froze, sighed, and shook his head, curling into himself tighter. "No."

“Okay.” Patton grabbed the two hot chocolate mugs and carefully passed the black one to Virgil, making sure their fingers didn’t even brush against each other.

They sat in silence for a moment, sipping hot chocolate and just basking in the other’s presence. Just as Virgil was nearing the end of his drink, Patton turned towards him.

“I know you’re still wearing your binder, kiddo...” Patton resisted the urge to sigh in sympathy when Virgil froze in his seat, knowing Virgil would hear it as a sound of annoyance.

“It’s not safe to wear your binder this long, you know this.”

Virgil stared at his lap a moment before speaking, “I know, Pat, but...” he wiped a tear from his eye. “... dysphoria is just _so_ fucking painful.”

Patton gave him a half-smile. “I know, kiddo, and I’m so sorry you have to deal with it every day. I would take it away if I could.”

Virgil scooted a bit closer to Patton, smiling at him. “Thanks, Patton,” His smile faltered, a frown and furrowed brow taking its place. “but it’s not your fault I have boobs.”

Patton winced at that. They sat in silence once more before Patton set down his mug on the table beside him.

“Hey, how about you take off your binder, put on one of your larger hoodies, and I go make some more hot cocoa and we just talk some more!” Patton suggested, perking up a bit.

Virgil, however, raised an eyebrow in suspicion. Talk? “Uhmm… talk about what?”

Patton only became more excited at the question. “Well! We could rant about our days, talk about hobbies, cute boys,--” Patton winked at Virgil, causing the taller man to giggle. “--help with school work, anything!”

It sounded like a good offer, but… Virgil bit his lip anxiously, unsure if he should accept or not. It sounded really fun; he did love spending time with Patton, or just his friends in general. He would usually take up the offer, but…

“... aren’t you busy?”

“Nope!” Patton smiled, subconsciously moving closer to V. “I’m all open!”

“Are you sure you wanna… just spend time talking… with me?”

Patton’s smile softened. “Of course. You’re one of my best friends! I love hanging out with you!‘

Virgil let a small smile tug at his lips, blush tickling his neck. “...Okay.”

“YAY!!!” Patton shot up in excitement, startling a surprised laugh out of Virgil, which only made Patton happier. “I’ll go get the hot cocoa and you can change! See ya in a bit!”

Patton leaped out of the room and headed down the hall, but before he could make it to the kitchen, Virgil called out to him.

“Patton!”

Patton turned around, seeing Virgil leaning against the wall in the hallway.

“Yeah, kiddo?”

A soft smile graced Virgil’s lips, his eyes staring down at the floor.

“Thanks.”

Patton only grinned.

“Of course! Any time.” Patton turned around, walking into the kitchen.

“What are friends for?”

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you liked it! if you liked this, check out some of my other fics, and subscribe to the AU series if you wanna! thanks for reading! xx


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